


The Voice Under the Music

by Stariceling



Category: ALL OUT!! - Amase Shiori (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, Pirates, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-12 21:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15349554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: Gion finds out exactly what makes a siren's song so irresistible.





	The Voice Under the Music

**Author's Note:**

> For bonus round 3 [playlist](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/22341.html?thread=12798021#cmt12798021)
> 
> potc ost - drink up me hearties  
> two steps from hell - ocean kingdom  
> potc ost - mermaids & my jolly sailor bold  
> ruelle - hold your breath  
> two steps from hell - water temple
> 
> After wandering around with these on my playlist it really had to be sirens and longing.

Ooharano had already told him that sirens weren’t beautiful. They didn’t need to be. Once you heard them sing you would believe anything they wanted you to. Gion still didn’t understand what could be so tempting that people dove into siren-infested waters trying to reach it.

Most of the crew had been through this area before, and they were businesslike about it. Earplugs were passed out and hand signals memorized. Gion wasn’t sure what he was looking for but there were no strange creatures, beautiful or otherwise, to be seen.

At first it felt strange to hear only stuffy silence. Gion kept fiddling with his earplugs until he imagined he heard music. It felt like it was in his head rather than outside, like someone had plucked at his nerves and made them ring in unfamiliar notes. It listed too sharp and yet he wanted to stop and concentrate on it.

Then there was a voice, as clear as if the music was only there to emphasize it, calling his name.

Gion only got halfway through the thought that he should not be hearing any voice right now and if he was it was very bad. The voice wasn’t exotic or alluring or even melodic. It was familiar. He had to follow it.

Iwashimizu had tucked himself in a little blind spot near the stairs to the quarterdeck. It was a wonder he could find enough shadow to hide in.

“What are you doing?” Gion shouted at him. Then, realizing that Iwashimizu couldn’t hear him, he reached out and shook his friend’s arm.

Iwashimizu turned with a bright, beaming smile as if he had somehow done something wonderful. Gion felt his heart lift as it always did when Iwashimizu looked at him like that and he reflexively jerked away.

“What?” he snapped.

The smile slipped, leaving Iwashimizu’s face blank for an instant.

“Don’t you like me?”

“You’re asking me that now?”

“I like you.”

Iwashimizu smiled again, and Gion could feel it becoming harder and harder to look at anything else. That sweet smile, the happy little bush, the shy fidgeting, and then the way those beautiful eyes caught and held his.

This was one area when Gion had some practice not being impulsive, but his self control seemed to fail very quickly. He went down on one knee beside Iwashimizu. Those words were still humming in the air like the lingering notes of a harp. _I like you_ whispered in his ears like faint music.

Then Iwashimizu kissed him and he briefly forgot how to breathe.

Somewhere between kisses Gion was aware of crawling into Iwashimizu’s lap. Iwashimizu’s hands finally landed on him, too cold and hard but Gion was past being able to notice. Fingers traced affectionately up his nape, drawing blood, and he did not care.

“Little snack,” was whispered against his lips. Gion was just conscious enough to feel indignant.

He had no awareness of falling from the ship, only of water closing over his head. In that moment Gion learned something that very few people live to tell: a siren’s song sounds completely different underwater.

What he heard was more like pressure beating against his ears than sound. It was the scream of a hull on an obsidian beach and it shredded the glamor in an instant. The thing holding him under was not Iwashimizu. It was not even remotely beautiful. Under its translucent skin its bones didn’t even seem to form a solid skeleton, but shifted with the waves.

That flash of indignation saved his life, bringing him back to his senses just an instant sooner. Gion kicked out at what was probably the thing’s chest with all of his strength, pushing out of its arms so teeth snapped an inch from his nose rather than around his throat.

The next instant he was fished out of the water. Gion found himself dangling from his captain’s hand. His ears were ringing, and the siren’s voice came to him as if echoing down a very long hallway.

There were no words this time, but the air was filled with the little sounds Iwashimizu made. The sleepy hum when he stretched in the morning, the little gasps and sighs and groans Gion knew all too well, all of it ringing like music in his ears.

Gion’s breath caught and his insides heated at the sounds, but his senses were still so battered from being underwater that when the siren attempted to claw its way up the hull after them it was very obviously what it was, not what he wanted to see.

Then someone dropped a cannonball on it. There was loud laughter from the deck, and Captain Sekizan hauled him safely up over the railing.

For a minute Gion dangled from Sekizan’s grip like a waterlogged kitten. Ebumi was laughing much too loud, unable to hear himself.

Gion found himself tossed into Iwashimizu’s arms, the one place he did not want to be at that moment. He tried to claw his way free, but Iwashimizu doggedly hung on to him. Even when Gion headbutted him he didn’t relax his grip for an instant. Then, as Gion made it clear he would not go quietly, Iwashimizu pinned him against the deck and clamped both hands over his ears.

It took another few seconds for him to calm, but then the fight poured out of him completely. It was blessedly quiet beyond the ringing in his ears. It was safe now. He was in the right hands.

The siren’s hands had been like talons, and its body had been cold as any fish. Gion hadn’t noticed in the moment, but now he was very aware of how warm Iwashimizu’s hands were. Iwashimizu’s forehead rested against his, his face scrunched in concentration.

Gion wasn’t sure how much later it was when someone came and tapped Iwashimizu’s shoulder to let him know it was safe to take the earplugs out. Gion was finally allowed to sit up. The sounds of normal industry were surreal for a minute.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Gion wouldn’t meet those worried eyes as he added, “Thank you.”

“I’m glad.”

Gion couldn’t stop himself from looking up. Iwashimizu was smiling fondly at him, his expression light with relief. He didn’t need to bring out the big guns to reach the little vulnerable places in Gion’s heart.

There was still a faint hum along Gion’s nerves that wouldn’t let him forget this was the face he would throw himself overboard for. Saying he should climb into Iwashimizu’s lap and sit on him so he couldn’t go away. Whispering, _I haven’t kissed him yet._


End file.
